What Need Have I Of Speech If No Memory Holds? Poem by Leslie Alexis

What need have I of speech if no memory holds?
For then am I not a dog barking at his shadow?
Having forgotten who is master, friend or foe
My growls do no more than echo in mountains.
Having no plan of who to save and who to scare
I run like one who is rabid and slip in my drool;
Having snapped at my master's feet, he’s right
To put me down; yet he calls, and daily, feeds me
Off his plate.

Copyright © 2011 Leslie Alexis